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ANSWERVINGS 2011-03 (Mar)

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Rud writes...

Young Justice, In the beginning of episode 5 when that bridge was collapsing and Bruce Wayne saw it. Instead of calling the police or the firemen or whatever he went strait for his Batman costume... that was just so funny to me, cause like, what can the Batman possibly do about a broken bridge?

its a good Superman showed up.

Greg responds...

It is good that Superman showed up. Superboy too.

But I wouldn't underestimate the Batman.

Response recorded on March 30, 2011

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Michael writes...

Dear Mr. Greg "greatestanimatedshowrunnerofalltime" Weisman,
While of course Lex is a member of the Light, as well as other villains I'm sure many comic book readers are aware of, like the Brain, possibly, but while their inevitable reveal will be a shock to the characters and possibly the viewers, most of them, who presumably don't read comics and have little to no comic book knowledge will have no clue who these villains are, as they haven't appeared in the show yet. Revealing a shadowy villain to be a villain no one's seen before will feel cheap to most viewers.
All the best and keep up the good work!

Greg responds...

Is this... advice?

Or an attempt to get confirmation of your theories? Or a subtle request for spoilers?

Dude.

You have no idea what we have planned, but WHATEVER we have planned is done. No turning back now. And I'm not confirming or denying any of your suppositions, implicit or explicit, so:

"SPOILER REQUEST. NO COMMENT." and/or "WE LIKE OUR SHOW."

Response recorded on March 30, 2011

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Anonymous writes...

Tell us more about this Earth 16.5...please?

Greg responds...

Well, for starters: It's just Earth-16. Not sure where you got the ".5".

Response recorded on March 29, 2011

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Vaevictis Asmadi writes...

I can't tell from the comic, so... in the Gargoyles universe, did Finella actually have a son? Did Kenneth II actually kill Finella's son?

Thanks.

Greg responds...

"SPOILER REQUEST. NO COMMENT."

Response recorded on March 29, 2011

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DC Hero writes...

Hey Greg,Here are some questions that I hope you are allowed to answer.
1.Can you post on a blog the reason why you chose specific costumes for each character.
2.Is Aqualad's electric ell tatoo natural or Atlantean made.
3.How was Artemis able to be at school when Amazo was giving Superboy a beat down.
4.Is it because of your love for Black Canary that you made her the combat trainer instead of Wonder Woman or was there a specific reason.
4.Will we see Themyscira in Young justice.
5.How much liter's can Aqualad's water bearers hold.
6.Which is your favorite comic:DC or Marvel.
7.Will any issue of your comics for Young Justice focus on specific realations within the group.
8.If yes to number 7, which issue will focus on the Superboy and Miss Martian relationship.
Thanks for all your time making a great tv series like Young Justice.Side note hope Superboy and Miss Martian get together soon.

Greg responds...

1. No. I'm not going to go down a laundry list of everyone. If you have a specific question about an individual character or two, I'll give it a shot. In the meantime, check out my partner Brandon Vietti's blog on the subject: http://brandonvietti.blogspot.com/2010/11/costumes.html

2. It's mystic, but he wasn't born with it.

3. "SPOILER REQUEST. NO COMMENT."

4. I'm sure my preferences played in, but it just made sense to us. Canary was trained by past heroes. It made sense that she'd want to pass on the knowledge she's gained. Plus her experience lends itself to all power sets. I'm not sure Wonder Woman's does. (Btw, this came VERY close to getting a stock "WE LIKE OUR SHOW." response, but I elected to give you the benefit of the doubt.)

4 again. "SPOILER REQUEST. NO COMMENT."

5. I'm personally not interested in being that specific.

6."ASKED AND ANSWERED."

7. Well, sure...

8. "SPOILER REQUEST. NO COMMENT."

Response recorded on March 29, 2011

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ASK GREG

Finally, a word about Ask Greg.

I've asked Gorebash to shut down the question asking function until either (a) I catch up with the huge backlog of questions currently in the queue or (b) we have a new episode airing (whichever comes FIRST).

In the meantime, I'm going to try as usual to wade through the backlog. I'll admit, the questions lately have made me a bit cranky, and I want to avoid that, so I'm breaking down three categories of questions that get on my nerves and will from now on ONLY receive stock answers, both to keep me sane and to speed up the process.

1. Questions that have been asked before are really bogging down the queue. It would be MUCH appreciated if folks would follow the guidelines before posting and try (1) checking the Ask Greg Archives to see if their question has already been answered, (2) check the unanswered questions already in the queue to see if the question has been asked already and will get answered before I get to theirs and (3) try asking the question in the Station 8 Comment Room (http://www.s8.org/gargoyles/comment/). The fans there are VERY knowledgeable and may be able to get you an answer LONG before I reach your question. Any question that falls into this category will simply be answered with the following: "ASKED AND ANSWERED."

2. Questions that ask me to SPOIL my own show are exasperating. As I've said over and over, I'm just NOT going to do that. Why would I? Even obvious stuff can't be addressed, because if I acknowledge anything, the stuff I don't comment on is spoiled by default. So please, please, please refrain. Any question that falls into this category will simply be answered: "SPOILER REQUEST. NO COMMENT."

3. Finally, I have NO problem with people commenting on the series. And I get that not everyone is going to like everything (or even anything) that they see. But for some posters, commenting doesn't seem to satisfy. Instead, they phrase their comments in the form of a question, and in essence CHALLENGE me to acknowledge how right they are about their criticisms of the program. But here's the thing... you do NOT have to agree with me, but aside from a few objective mistakes that I'm ALWAYS willing to acknowledge (e.g.. the incorrect timestamps), you have to understand that if Brandon and I put something in the series, the odds are WE LIKE IT. YOU are NOT going to convince ME that, for example, "Hello, Megan!" or Robin's laugh or Superman's response to Superboy or Wally's flirting is bad for the show. Feel free to tell me you don't care for these (or other) things, but stop phrasing these COMMENTS as questions or challenges. It grates. Any question that falls into this category will simply be answered: "WE LIKE OUR SHOW."

Now, I realize that all of the above sounds fairly negative, but that's not the intent. In fact, the intent is to get any and all negativity out of the way HERE, so that the rest of Ask Greg becomes more manageable and pleasant for myself and all of you. I hope that makes sense.


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Young Justice Update

Good news and bad news today...

Here's the good news.

Coming out of Cartoon Network's upfronts last week (and Geoff John's comments on it since) there's been some confusion about what's happening on the Young Justice front.

What amuses me a bit is how CONFIDENT some posters on various message boards are about their interpretation of the reports. CONFIDENT and generally wrong.

So here's what's going on:

Young Justice has aired nine episodes of our 26-episode first season. The rest will begin airing after some weeks of reruns. The schedule is Cartoon Network's, and I'm not yet 100% clear on when we're back up and running. Though to be fair to CN, we don't have ANY other episodes in the can as of this moment. We're posting episodes 10 and 11 now.

(I saw some folks protesting why we didn't wait until ALL episodes were in the can before we began airing. All I can do is shrug. It's not up to me, but I do wonder how the fans who were furious that they had to wait until January 2011 for Season One would feel about THAT strategy.)

So the good news: We HAVE INDEED been picked up for a second season. As of now, all CN & WB have ordered is a ten episode mini-series, "YOUNG JUSTICE: INVASION". We're HOPING for more than just ten eps, and I honestly think the odds are fairly good that the order will expand, but as of NOW, all we have is this ten episode order.

We immediately began work on this new season last week, and are breaking approximately (but not quite) one episode per day. The creative team is fundamentally the same as for Season One.

And though, of course, we will be introducing many new characters episodically in Season Two (just as we do episodically in Season One), I don't want to give the impression that this is some spin-off featuring, I dunno, the League or something, in the same Earth-16 setting. Invasion IS the second season of Young Justice and absolutely features our "Team". Episode 26 of Season One is time-stamped "December 31". Episode 1 of Season Two will be time-stamped "January 1", in essence picking up right where we left off.

We anticipate YJ:Invasion premiering in 2012... late first quarter, if I had to guess. Reports suggesting late 2011 are... beyond wishful thinking.

Hmmm... anything else? I feel like I'm forgetting something. But I can't think of any other misconceptions that need correcting right now.

Oh, well...

Still - Season Two. Not too shabby, huh?


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Back Issue

I should have posted this long ago...

I received a complimentary copy of Back Issue #46. Inside is an interview of me conducted by John Wells (who incidentally has -- through Peter David -- provided considerable DC Comics related research for us on Young Justice). It's all about the Black Canary mini-series that I wrote a good chunk of for DC Comics back in the 80s before it was cancelled and never published to make way for Mike Grell's Longbow Hunters.

But that's not the only article of interest in the magazine. In fact, one of the reasons I'm so late in referencing this here, is because I took the time to read the magazine cover to cover. Lots of great stuff. I heartily recommend it.


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Laura 'ad astra' Sack writes...

Apologies for all the typos in my preceding comment. I could have sworn I read it through more than once.

Greg responds...

Don't sweat it.

Response recorded on March 18, 2011

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Jim V writes...

Loving Young Justice... but why oh why is Superman acting like such a jerk with regards to Superboy? I can understand why he'd be uncomfortable meeting his clone, but still... seems way out of character. And him storming out of his meeting with Batman... who IS this guy?

Greg responds...

Asked and answered ad nauseum. See the ASK GREG "Young Justice" archives.

Response recorded on March 18, 2011

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Laura 'ad astra' Sack writes...

Now that I am finally caught up on YJ episodes...{I'm the only person I've ever heard of to have any problems with TiVO, let alone have one box go from working poorly to actually dying, and now the new one is working no better!?} A few reactions and questions...

1- Aqualad's water manipulation power reminds me of 'water bending' in Avatar. Was that a visual inspiration, or just a happenstance?

2- I had a surprising realization. Robin is a bit annoying- That's not the surprise; he is annoying as a 13 year old trying a smidge too hard to run with the big kids most probably would be. (I started reading comics with the preternaturally mature Tim Drake as Robin so it does stick out to me.) The realization that surprised me was that I have no idea if that is consistent with or devient from Dick's personality when he first appeared back in the Golden Age.

3- I'm not sure if this is something you would care to answer or if it is a 'wait and see' thing but... If YJ has the "Don't call them sidekicks" vibe, will we be seeing plain old 'call them sidekicks'? (I'm thinking more world building background than full show characters. This is a young universe, there aren't that many sidekicks yet so the example of these sidekicks should first be leading to more, and to reactions to kids in the field in general. Foreground I'm fairly certain is a 'wait and see' answer.)
3a- Will we be seeing any of the YJ crew in their sidekick capacity like we did in the series opening sequence?

4- The animated YJ members assumption Speedy's presence whenever clues of Artimas shows up mirrors the printed members' assumption of Arrowette's return when Empress first showed up.

5- I like Black Canary's design, also her characterization and acting- the leggings could be simplified visually from her famous fishnets, or they could equally be a more practical protective material. Her body actually looks capable of the fighting she does. And the arm wound was subtle enough to just be there like working past a battle wound would be for her in, uh..real life. It was used wonderfully to show her personality, similarly her reliance on her fighting skills over her meta ability. (Superboy picked up on that nicely when Amazo called on her skills twice- first for her scream and second, when the fighting heated up, for her brawling skills.)

6- Speaking of Black Canary- in the comics, despite their closeness in age, Dinah is often considered Roy's mother. (Making her a rediculously young grandmother.) I'm not a big Green Arrow reader, but I can think of several times Roy and Ollie saying that Dinah was a better mother to him than Ollie ever was a father. And IIRC correctly there was a strong 'proud mama' vibe over Red Arrow's membership in Dinah's JLA. Assuming at least part of that relationship is in the animated continuity it adds an additional level of depth to her mentoring the angry young Kon-el when her own angry young Roy is on her mind.

7- One last note on some of the Superman complaints I've been reading in the que- I'm foundinng the animation so expressive (as with my two previous Black Canary comments) that what some complain is missing in Superman's failure to be fatherly, (or at least big brotherly- a clone seems more brother than son to me), to Superboy to be clearly on screen in facial expressions and body langauge. I don't think Clark is being short changed at all.

8- And a request...can the "Come on Megan!"s be limited to one per ep? I get her Earth name is new and she is still enjoying the sound and play of it, but it is a bit much.

Greg responds...

1. Probably neither.

2. Robin/Dick Grayson - particularly in the early days - had a real sense of humor about his work with Batman. I think we've characterized him (taking modernization into account) fairly accurately. (BTW, I do not find him annoying.)

3. To the extent I understand the question: no comment.

3a. No comment.

4 & 5. No questions.

6. I've never considered Dinah as Roy's mom. More like a caring older sister. I mean I get it. Ollie is a father figure to Roy (though not necessarily much of a father), so Dinah -- being Ollie's most consistent girlfriend -- must be a mother figure. But I just don't see it and never have.

7. Thank you.

8. <sigh> You do understand that it's too late, right? The scripting and recording and nearly all of the boarding plus a good chunk of the animation is all done. Even assuming I agreed with you, how could I honor such a request? And, for the record, I DISAGREE WITH YOU STRONGLY!!! And did you really think I wouldn't? Does it make sense that we'd put stuff in the series that WE don't like? And it's: "Hello, Megan!"

Response recorded on March 18, 2011

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Liam writes...

Gargoyles obviously had a lot of influence from Shakespeare, and so did Spectacular Spider-Man, towards the end of the series. Will we be seeing at least a little bit of that theme in Young Justice?

Greg responds...

No comment.

Response recorded on March 18, 2011

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David writes...

1).The season 1 of Young justice just began but how long will the gap be between se;1 and se;2 ( if the show gets a season two).

2).are there episodes for the next season already in development or is it a {wait it out and see what happens with se;1 before going anymore forward}

Greg responds...

1. I have no idea.

2. We don't yet have a green light for Season Two, but of course we have ideas.

Response recorded on March 18, 2011

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Grant writes...

Where is Metropolis located?

In the most recent episode, Schooled, was the map correct in that Gotham was located in Conneticut?

Are both of these cities the size of NYC?

Greg responds...

No comment.

Response recorded on March 18, 2011

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Jack-Pumpkinhead writes...

Dear Greg,

Just wanted to give thanks for another excellent episode of Young Justice this past Friday. I liked how you handled Amazo, very cool. But I was surprised by Prof. Ivo, I wouldv'e sworn that was Toyman based on his design. But you've done enough good to earn my full trust. Oh, I also liked the interaction between Clark & Bruce at the diner, very nicely done. Again, kudos to you and the crew, and I am looking forward to the next episode!

Greg responds...

Toyman looks like Peter MacNicol?

Response recorded on March 17, 2011

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Ozaline writes...

Not a question this time, just a comment I want to apologize I didn't think they'd send you both vesions of my initial questions cause I thought the first one was too leading and the second one was more civil.

I am still watching the series and not making too many judgements yet, my point wasn't to come off like I was attacking I was just wondering why you didn't do some things, you've got a good track record so I'm hoping things turn out.

I apologize if it seemed like I was attacking.

Greg responds...

Don't sweat it. I apologize if my response(s) got snippy.

Response recorded on March 17, 2011

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Anonymous writes...

How different of an experience is it to work on a show were the seasons are 13 episodes(Spectacular Spiderman) from one where the seasons are 26(I think it's 26 might have read 28 somewhere)?
I mean do you have to pace yourself differently?
Which do you prefer?
Are you more comfortable including sub-plots that you might not get to adress in 13 episode seasons?
You know stuff like that.

Greg responds...

The more episodes the better as far as I'm concerned. More EMPLOYMENT, first of all. Plus more room to maneuver, to add more subplots, more characters, etc.

Response recorded on March 17, 2011

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Anonymous writes...

I really like Robin's jokes, I've always been a fan of wordplay.

Oh Young Justice is the first of your show's that I've watched, but it was so good that it made me want to look into Spectacular Spiderman, and WoW it's really good I'm only a couple episode in but I love the way you have all the villains kinda developing into villains instead of just villain of the week type of set up.
Haha and the theme song is pretty entertaining.

Greg responds...

Thanks!

Response recorded on March 17, 2011

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tomi writes...

I really enjoyed these first preview episodes of Young Justice. And perhaps even moreso than that i enjoyed to hear Crispin Freeman to return back to your services: i think he made fantastic work as both Speedy and Guardian, and eventhough you can still hear a bit that it is the same actor, he made it possible for those two characters to be divided and personified from one and another.

He was excellent as Electro, and i was fan of him before that(i came hooked sometimes around i first saw first few episodes of Wolf,s Rain).

From what i,ve been able to gather, he seems to be not only true professional, but also smart, intelligent guy with great thoughts, coupled with sharp and delightful sense of humor. I have seem him to appear in many of Gatherings(often paired with good old Thom Lexington Adcox), and i,ve heard that he was fan long before your paths crossed, often discussing with his fans about serie,s themes.

If it isnt too much trouble, could you give little bit of greenlight how you two met, and how your cooperation began?

Hopes for better to your work from fan from far-off-land Finland: maybe there arent too many Finnish Gargfans, but i am one of them.

Pidä lippu korkealla!/Keep your spirits high!

Greg responds...

I met him through the Gathering, actually. 2001 in Los Angeles, I believe. He was a guest of the convention, giving his mythology seminar. We first worked together on a pitch for Mecha-Nation, i.e. he did us a favor and recorded a bit of dialogue for us. The first paying job I could offer him was on the very last episode of W.I.T.C.H.

Response recorded on March 17, 2011

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Matt writes...

In the time long ago when there were gargoyle clans all over the world, how common was mating between members of different clans? Did gargoyles nearly always choose a mate from their own clan or was inter-clan mating fairly common when multiple clans existed in a general area?

Thanks Greg!

Greg responds...

I don't know about "fairly common", but it was not rare. Though of course, geography plays a role here. You aren't going to see Mayan gargoyles mating with Loch Ness gargoyles in the first century.

Response recorded on March 16, 2011

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April writes...

Hi Greg,

I've never asked a question here before and I searched the site for a while to see if the question I have has already been asked (apparently it hasn't?) Anyway, I was just wondering, does Kid Flash actually know Robin's secret identity? I've seen a lot of fan speculation on it and it got me really curious.

Hope you can answer and thanks for such a great series so far. It's fantastic. :)

Greg responds...

He does, but it's a secret that he knows.

Response recorded on March 16, 2011

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H13 writes...

Just want to make some comments on what seems to be one of the major things in the last few episodes. Superman/Superboy dynamic.
I think it's good to see Superman is not Mr Perfect/Infallible and can't handle a situation that for once does not call for super speed or heat vision. But it's clear his side is not being shown and maybe that is unfortunate. I expect fear is a major factor here and imagine being last of your race and knowing you can't have kids with humans and suddenly you're faced with Batman telling you have be a father to a clone who could very well be someone bred to take you down. Fear that you can't or will fail Conner. Must bring up so much emotion regarding his own biological father and dead planet. It's a bit much for anyone. Shame you couldn't show some of his reasons.Might have made it more balanced. Batman is not the one to convince Clark in my mind anyway. I think this is where Pa Kent comes in big time. Maybe to some extent Diana and J'onn who seem from the start Clark's sounding boards/close friends. But kudos to you for bringing up an issue that I am sure many youngsters do have to face and we feel empathy for Conner.

My other thing is I hope we see Artemis very soon. Miss Martian is getting on my nerves. There needs to be some more girls to balance off her and soon.

Greg responds...

Well, I wish we had hour long episodes that would give me the flexibility to show more for ALL our characters. But ultimately, the series is about the teens, not the adults. So we aren't going to see too much of Superman's struggle from Superman's point of view. And the fact that Superboy can't SEE the struggle from HIS pov is part of the point.

By now, hopefully, you've seen Artemis. As ALWAYS planned, she premiered on schedule in episode 6.

Response recorded on March 16, 2011

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Greg Bishansky writes...

I've written a lot in the past about why Demona is my favorite character, what it is about her that speaks to me and fascinates me. I've always been interested in why some characters are favorites for other people.

I've read a while back that you said that Black Canary is probably your all time favorite comic book character. So, I'm curious, what is it about Black Canary that interested and fascinated you to put her at the top of a list like that, with so many other characters potentially fighting for a top spot like that?

Greg responds...

The short answer is that I just think she kicks ass. Strong, in all sense of the word, without being a "Man-in-Drag" superhero. And I like that her power level isn't through the roof. I can take or leave her Canary Cry, though I don't shy away from using it when it makes sense for her to do so, but it's the way she's trained herself. I also always really liked her relationship to Green Arrow, who's another favorite of mine. I like her ties to the old Justice Society (even if nowadays, those original connections were really her mother's) and I even like the retconning that makes her her own daughter and establishes that she trained with guys like Wildcat. I like the legacy hero idea. Plus - I'll admit - she's hot.

I guess the SHORTER answer is: "What's NOT to like?"

Response recorded on March 16, 2011

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Young Justice Happy Meal Toys!

Young Justice Happy Meal Toys!

So I got my complete set of YJ Happy Meal toys today, and I have three things to say:

1. Yes, I'm bummed that McDonalds chose to go with Littlest Pet Shop for girls, instead of creating a couple of kick-ass toys for Miss Martian and Artemis.

2. Nevertheless, the eight toys they did make are very cool!

3. But the choices made me stop and think: Black Manta is Aqualad's biological father. Batman is Robin's foster-father. Superman is Superboy's genetic father. So... is McDonalds trying to imply that Captain Cold is Kid Flash's father?!! OMG!!!


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John writes...

I know Black Canary and Batman are two of the best at hand to hand combat in the field and Superboy and Flash are inexperienced I get that but how come not one of the stronger heroes are not even involved in 'schooling' the kids? It makes no sense it is only Canary. In my mind she cannot truly teach that very mixed group which includes Flash and Superboy what they really need to know. So are we going to see a meta take them on the mats?

Greg responds...

I think you're underestimating Canary and/or missing the entire point of the training. Perhaps when their training gets more advanced, she'll bring in some help. But Kid Flash is already mentored by Flash. He doesn't need Mount Justice to train him in his speedcraft.

In any case, you'll eventually see that she's not the only Leaguer giving them tips.

Response recorded on March 15, 2011


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